Unearthly Grove: Sarah House
Go I know not where: Katya Vaz

Opening: Saturday Sept 14, 6 - 9 pm

Exhibition Dates: Sept 14 to Oct 8
Good Children Gallery is excited to present two new exhibitions: Unearthly Grove by Sarah House and Go I know not where by Katya Vaz. Join us for the opening reception this Saturday, September 14th from 6pm to 9pm.


Sarah House

Sarah House, a Baltimore native, moved to New Orleans in 2010 to complete her MFA at Tulane University. House has been an Artist in Residence at 10 different national and international residency programs, most recently at the Joan Mitchell Center. Sarah House is represented by Ann Connelly Fine Art, and is a Member Artist at Baton Rouge Gallery. She is a Windgate fellow, a Nyburg Fellow and a 2022 Center for Craft Career Advancement Grant recipient. House currently serves as a Visual Arts Instructor at New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and is a resident of Mehle Studios in Old Arabi.

My work focuses on systems of interconnection in nature, as embodied by natural fractals. Their formal beauty attracts me, and the structural similarities these patterns share excite a profound sense of interconnection. Unearthly Grove is a collection of works inspired by the otherworldliness of slime molds and mushrooms found on the forest floor. My work is heavily influenced by my ceramics practice, though I am embracing play and material exploration by incorporating felted wool, wire, paper and plaster to communicate my vision of an alien forest. The work feels alive, almost animated and undoubtedly whimsical. I am compelled to carry this joie de vivre as I make sculpture that references different organic forms simultaneously, creating works that are familiar yet ambiguous. I invite the viewer to imagine a root system, a reef, a being, and hopefully, find connection.




Katya Vaz


Katya Vaz was born in 1999 in Moscow, Russia. Currently she works in New Orleans. Her practice centers around the transformation of physical locales by one's emotional connection to them depicted by reminiscent imagery, as if looking into someone's memories. Vaz received her Bachelor of Design from Loyola University New Orleans in 2021. She has exhibited work at The Historic BK House & Gardens (2023), The Front Gallery (2021), Diboll Gallery (2021), 5Press Gallery (2017), and the Contemporary Art Center (2017). In 2024, she was selected as an Artist in Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center.

Having been raised between Moscow, Russia, and New Orleans, Louisiana- two distinct cultures and languages-I have been acutely aware of the concept of locality from a young age. Drawing inspiration from memories tied to place, I explore the emotional and physical connection to culture and the environment that cultivated it, and how they have, in turn, shaped me.

Culture and locality are intricately linked, as the environment in which one is raised profoundly influences cultural identity and expression. Locality encompasses the physical, social, and historical contexts that shape daily life and collective memory. These local contexts imbue cultural practices with distinct meanings and forms, making them unique to specific places. As a result, culture becomes a reflection of the locality's characteristics-its landscapes, climate, and traditions-which in turn informs how individuals experience and express their cultural heritage. By exploring this relationship, my work delves into how the tangible aspects of a place contribute to the development of cultural narratives and personal identity.

My work mainly consists of works on paper. By combining graphite and charcoal drawings with papermaking, cyanotype, and printmaking techniques, I represent the linguistic aspect of my work, using different techniques as various phrases to express the idea. These phrases come together to form a complete concept. Much like in the natural world, where nothing exists in isolation, my works inform and build on each other, creating their own dialogue.

The processes I employ are rooted in natural principles with many having the ability to be proliferated, much like the natural world's cycles and patterns. Papermaking, for instance, mimics the organic process of growth and transformation, while cyanotype's use of sunlight evokes the natural interplay of light and time. By employing these methods, I not only reflect the iterative and interconnected nature of the environment but also create works that can be replicated and expanded. This multiplicity mirrors the way natural and cultural systems evolve and interact, reinforcing the idea that nothing exists in isolation but rather as part of a dynamic and interconnected whole.